Chang'an City, Xingqing Palace, Nanxun Palace, Tang Emperor Li Longji received several ministers today. Li Linfu, the right minister and the protector of Anxi, Chen Xilie, the left minister and the secretary of the military department, the imperial historian and Jingzhao Yin Wang Jie, and Yang Guozhong, who is also the envoy of the fifteen kinds of envoys.

On the imperial case are two reports of Gao Xianzhi, one is the good news of Gao Xianzhi after the Battle of Talas, and the other is the joint name of Gao Xianzhi and Xiao Quzhi after the meeting of the Sama in Hezhong. In this note, the two reported in detail the situation after the pacification of the land in the river, described the wealth in the river, and emphasized the importance of the land in the river to the Tang Dynasty.

The two also proposed to build a military town in Hezhongsamu, and add the recovered broken leaves to make the four towns of Anxi become the six towns of Anxi. Finally, a letter was also enclosed from Xiao Quzhi, Gao Xianzhi, and Liu Dan, the judge of Anxi, the champion of the Tang Dynasty, who cooperated to complete the plan of increasing Anxi's troops by 20,000 troops, and immigrating to Anxi Hezhong to operate and develop Hezhong.

In general, although Li Longji, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty at this time, had no intention of politics, he indulged in singing, dancing and wine all day long, and pursued immortality. But the great joy in the heart is no different from most emperors, they all yearn to be able to expand the territory, raise the prestige of the country in the four seas, capture the Hu chief in front of the steps, command the generals, seal the wolf Juxu, and Le Shi Jigong; All nations come to court, prostrate under their feet, under the whole world, only me.

Send Huo to get sick, raise 100,000 soldiers, run rampant in the desperate region, capture and behead Hu, and dedicate himself to the king.

This is the supreme glory of being an emperor, and this is an event that will be firmly recorded in the history books of later generations and passed on to thousands of generations!

This time, Gao Xianzhi commanded 20,000 troops, plus 14,000 mercenaries, almost wiped out the more than 100,000 Great Food Army, and the Great Food Force was swept away in the Hezhong region. The Tang Dynasty Tianwei is far away, and more than 40 countries west of the Green Mountains are all praised, which is a great victory that he has never had since he ascended the throne!

For a long time, although the Hanzhong region was nominally the territory of the Tang Dynasty and was under the jurisdiction of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, it was not too important. In Li Longji's view, only the Tubo in the northwest and the Turks in the north were the biggest threat to the Tang Dynasty, followed by Xi and Khitan in the northeast, and the big food could only be ranked last. Anthy, especially in the river, is too far away after all.

Because the road is too far, the threat of the Great Eclipse is almost negligible, and because the road is too far and the supply is difficult, the Anxi Army and Beiting have not had many troops. Therefore, the river was occupied by the Great Eclipse, and the subject countries in the river asked Tang Xuanzong for help, but the Tang Dynasty never sent troops to support. However, in the end, he was a vassal country, and when these countries sent people to cry and ask for help, the prestige of the Tang Dynasty was damaged, and Li Longji also felt very annoyed, and he was annoyed for decades.

What he didn't expect was that this problem, which had plagued the Tang Dynasty for more than 30 years, was miraculously solved in just a few months. Not to mention the great cannibals, the countries west of the Green Mountains surrendered and praised, and also snatched millions of gold coins and tens of millions of silver coins and tens of thousands of Arab horses from the big cannibals. When will Datang go out to fight and get so much loot?

This is already a complete achievement, and it is an unprecedented achievement! But Gao Xianzhi and Xiao Qu were still greedy for merit and risked attacking Khorasan? That Xiao is really a heavenly daring, before he rode alone to attack the army formation of 20,000 elite cavalry, this time, he pulled Gao Xianzhi, and pulled 20,000 Anxi and Tianwei troops to go on an expedition to the Mulu of Khorasan!

"What do you think about the things in the river?"

Seeing the emperor asking, Li Linfu didn't think about it, and was the first to stand up and express his opinion. Gao Xianzhi is the deputy protector of Anxi, he is the protector of Anxi, Li Linfu is the nominal supreme leader of Anxi, and Gao Xianzhi was also promoted by him. Gao Xianzhi won such a big victory, he naturally followed suit, and of course he had to show his support at this time.

"Back to the saints, I think it is feasible." Li Linfu: "The Anxi Army defended such a large area, and now it has recovered Broken Leaf and Hezhong, from four towns to six towns, and the 24,000 troops are indeed a little less;

In addition, the Central Plains of Guannai has been peaceful for a long time, and the Dingkou multiplication is too fast, and many men cannot get the land, as mentioned above, the river has been war-torn for a long time, and the population has decreased sharply, and the migration to the river can just relieve the pressure on the land here;

In addition, the land in the middle of the river is fertile and rich, and if you don't immigrate there, you won't be able to hold it until the end even if you set up a military town. In this way, what do you say about expanding the territory? ”

After Li Linfu finished speaking, he glanced at Chen Xilie. Of the four ministers here, Li Linfu is the first in terms of official positions and Chen Xilie is the second, but in terms of strength and favor, Chen Xilie is the first from the bottom, not even one-tenth of Wang Ji and Yang Guozhong. He was only able to become the deputy prime minister because he could discuss with Li Longji in Jingdaoxue, and at the same time, he was recommended by Li Linfu to become the deputy prime minister if he was easy to control.

His role is to sing harmony to Li Linfu Zuoyou, Li Linfu's echo worm, a humanoid signature and stamper. Seeing Li Linfu looking at him, he immediately said: "The minister seconded the proposal, this plan is safe and feasible, step by step." If this is done, within ten years, the land in the river will become a second Anthy. No, it should be several times stronger than Anxi, and according to the song, there are many more oases in the river than Anxi. ”

Li Longji nodded, he also thought that this plan was very feasible, first increase the troops, and then slowly garrison more troops in the river, and then migrate to the river. Step by step, even the Han family's immigrants to the river how to gain a foothold, how to reclaim, and how to protect themselves were carefully planned. The most important thing is that the plan says that there is no need for the imperial court to pay at all, and all the money in the immigration river will be paid by the Anxi army!

Li Longji is really a little skeptical, when did Gao Xianzhi have this level? This can't be what Xiao Qubing came up with, right? This young man is simply a civil and military all-rounder, not only is he brave in the three armies, but now he is even good at governing the local area and shepherding the people?

This is really an overestimation of Xiao Qu's illness, how can he have this ability, this is what he learned from later cases. For example, Nanniwan and the Production and Construction Corps are nothing more than military management, with agriculture in peacetime and soldiers in wartime, hoeing in one hand and horizontal knives and bows in the other, and conducting military training when the farmers are slack. Households are gathered, military or militia are arranged to take turns to guard them, and intelligence networks and early warning mechanisms are set up.

To sum up, Xiao Quzhi knew that this would be successful, but if he really wanted to implement it, he couldn't do it.

Seeing that Li Longji was about to express his position, Wang Ji hurriedly said: "The sage minister also seconded it. This plan is possible, but one thing is debatable! ”

"Which point?"

"The plan said that all the expenses would be paid by the Anxi army, and the minister thought that this should come from the seizures, and the minister calculated, even if the three million gold coins, forty million silver coins and all the jewelry and jade were all used for immigration, it was still not enough!"

Li Longji was surprised: "How can it not be enough?" As soon as he saw so much gold, silver and jewelry, Li Longji always felt that there was a lot more, and he should be able to leave a lot of money for himself in the immigration expenses.

Wang Ji said: "Sage, you count, every person who goes to the river must be equipped with a horizontal knife, a spear, a bow, and a pot of arrows. It's all money, and it's a lot of money to go to the river thousands of miles away, and you have to hire horse-drawn carts and donkey carts to transport it, and you have to send troops to protect it, which also costs money, as well as farm tools and seeds after you get to the river. The minister will calculate the ...... for you."

After listening to Wang Jie's calculations, Li Longji thought about it, the seizures of the Anxi Army seemed to be quite a lot, and they were about to catch up with the Tang Dynasty's annual income. But the implementation of everything is really not enough, not only is the half of the wealth I think is gone, but it seems that half of it will be subsidized from the treasury.

As soon as he thought of this, Li Longji began to feel distressed, he was very short of money now!

Li Longji was a very simple emperor at the beginning, and after entering Tianbao, his life slowly began to corrupt, but he has always been moderate. It wasn't until he reused Yang Guozhong and Wang Jie, the two ministers of accumulation, that his life and use were extravagant and corrupted to the limit!

Li Longji has been the Prince of Peace for almost 40 years, and the state and county treasury has accumulated a large amount of grain and cloth. In February of the eighth year of Tianbao, Yang Guozhong suggested that Li Longji sell all the grain in Tianxia Prefecture and County and exchange it for cloth and silk, and transport it to Chang'an together. Li Longji visited the treasury of these cloths and saw so many cloths, so he did not use the money as money. History - regard gold silk as dung, reward the home of noble pets, and there is no limit.

(Here is a popular science, the Tang Dynasty was extremely short of precious metals such as gold and silver, and even copper for coinage was not enough.) Therefore, the monetary system of the Tang Dynasty was both money and silk, and cloth and silk were money. It was not until the Song Dynasty that the Iwamiyama silver mine was discovered in Japan, and at the same time, all the gold and silver accumulated in Europe were earned through maritime trade, and silver became currency. ）

It is precisely because Yang Guozhong is regarded as being able to manage money, make money, and reuse it. Compared with Yang Guozhong, Wang Jie's means of gathering and looting money to flatter him are even more powerful. His method was to find ways to harsh the people, once Li Longji exempted the people from rent, Wang Ji said that he would exempt the rent and collect some freight, but he collected more freight than the rent. Wang Jie used various methods to accumulate wealth to please Li Longji, so he was considered to be very good at managing money and being able to enrich the country and be reused.

With these two people to help him make money, Li Longji became extravagant, extravagant, and extravagant. Enjoy excessively, reward excessively, but no matter how much Wang Yang and the two can scavenge, there is a limit to the amount of money squeezed from the people, so Li Longji often feels that he has no money.

Now Li Longji's private treasury for pleasure and rewards is almost empty, and he still thinks that when Gao Xianzhi returns to Chang'an, the seized treasury can fill his private treasury!

Li Longji's thoughts immediately faded, and he asked, "Then what Aiqing said should be?" ”

"One household was armed with only one horizontal knife and went on foot to the river. That's enough, there's still a surplus. ”

Li Longji was a little silent, walking to the river on foot, thousands of miles away, there are no middle-aged men, but there are still old and weak women and children, this way over, how many people are in the wind, frost and snow sword, and the migration speed must be very slow, and the food consumed on the road is very scary. Li Longji was a little unbearable, although the plan to immigrate to the river was good, it would cost so much money, if you want to spend less money and kill many people, it seems that it still won't work!

Li Longji saw that Yang Guozhong had been frowning there and not speaking, and asked, "Yang Qing, why don't you speak?" ”

Yang Guozhong hurriedly said: "Sage, the minister thinks that it is too early to discuss immigration to the river. The minister was worried that General Gao's expedition to Khorasan this time was too reckless and too risky. I've already competed before, so why go deep into the enemy territory alone? With 20,000 Anxi, Tianwei troops and tens of thousands of servant armies of various countries, they dare to compete with one country. The previous battle of Talas was almost wiped out because of the rebellion of the servant army, and once the war in Khorasan was unfavorable this time, who would dare to guarantee that the servant army would no longer ride dissent. Therefore, the minister was worried. ”

Yang Guozhong said it well, he was indeed worried, but he was not worried that Gao Xianzhi would be defeated, on the contrary, he was worried that Gao Xianzhi would return with a big victory!

It's not that Yang Guozhong doesn't have an enmity with Gao Xianzhi, but because Yang Guozhong has an enmity with Li Linfu, and the relationship between Gao Xianzhi and Li Linfu is extraordinary, and he will definitely think of Li Linfu when the time comes.

Before Yang Guozhong and Wang Ji were Li Linfu's right-hand men, both of them were the emperor's financial talents, and their main official positions were Yushi Zhongcheng, but last year, Yushi Dafu (Yushi Dafu is the first leader of Yushitai, Yushi Zhongcheng is equivalent to many second-in-command, and even Gao Xianzhi is also Yushi Zhongcheng) The position was vacant, but Li Linfu chose to let Wang Ji be promoted to Yushi Dafu instead of him.

Therefore, Yang Guozhong held a grudge against Li Linfu, and from that time on, he was trying to deal with Li Linfu. For this reason, he and the cool official Ji Wen cut off Li Linfu's forces, and he also secretly co-opted An Lushan and Ge Shuhan, the envoys of the feudal towns outside the country, to prepare to bring down Li Linfu.

If Gao Xianzhi returned with an unprecedented victory and wanted to move Li Linfu, Gao Xianzhi would definitely speak for him. And the emperor favored these border generals who had made great contributions, and he would definitely look at Gao Xianzhi's face when the time came.

Therefore, Yang Guozhong was secretly praying in his heart just now, wishing that Gao Xianzhi's entire army would be annihilated! Just like not long ago, the Jiannan Jiedu he recommended made Xian Yu Zhongtong's 80,000 army conquer the entire army of Nanzhao.

Li Longji was slightly displeased, thinking that you were cursing the Anxi Army, but seeing that Yang Guozhong really looked worried, he didn't think much about it. He turned his head and smiled and asked Gao Lishi, who was standing beside him, "Lux what do you think?" ”

Gao Lishi nodded and said with a smile: "The old slave believes in Wang Chengen's judgment, he has a very high evaluation of that immortal disciple Xiao Quai, since he said in the secret report that he will win this time in Khorasan, the old slave believes that this time the Anxi Army and the Tianwei Army will definitely be able to return with a big victory!" ”

Yang Guozhong was stunned, and soon let go, quite disappreciative in his heart, a eunuch who supervised the army knew what military situation. As soon as he wanted to speak, an inner eunuch walked into the hall with an urgent military report in his hand. Gao Lishi ran over to take it, glanced at it and said loudly: "Your Majesty, it's the good news of Gao Kaifu!" ”

Li Longji took it in his hand, looked at the cover with feathers and the fire paint seal on the back, couldn't wait to open it, and shouted excitedly without a few glances: "Gaishi Qigong, Gaishi Qigong!" It took less than three days to break through Mulu City, the capital of Khorasan, killing the enemy and capturing more than 60,000 people, with less than 1,000 casualties. ”

The four top officials of the Tang Dynasty and the eunuch Gao Lishi were all stunned, Li Linfu was proud, and Yang Guozhong's face was extremely embarrassed.

Soon after, a holy decree was issued from Xingqing Palace, and the horse hurried to Anxi.

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